WPI Project Details

From January 10^th to May 3^rd we worked with the U.S. Forest Service on the Pre-Planning Phase of their Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council Project. In order to gather data, we conducted two surveys; one of existing U.S. based Watershed Council Officials, and one of community members throughout Puerto Rico. In addition, we interviewed 16 Initial Stakeholders for the project. Using the data from these methods, we created several deliverables for the council to utilize:

The Rapid Watershed Assessment (RWA) detailed the current environmental health of the watershed and will allow the council to determine what areas need improvement. 

The Restoration and Community Development Assessment (RCDA) brainstormed potential restoration and community development activities that the council could undertake. 

The Project Poster described the methods and results of our project, as well as the overall timeline for the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council Project. This poster was used at the Leatherback Turtle Festival on April 13^th and the El Yunque Forest Clean-Up Day on April 20^th to promote the council.

We also created a draft of a charter for the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council containing the Mission Statement and proposed bylaws.

The fifth and final deliverable in our project was this blog. We hope the stakeholders will use the work we’ve done to officially form and begin operations of the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council.

Flowchart of the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council Project

Below is a flowchart of the overall project for the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council. Our project comprises the Pre-Planning Phase of the project as noted by the red star. The next phase of the project is an initial stakeholder meeting that will occur in June 2013 at the U.S. Forest Service Headquarters. If you are interested in attending that meeting, please contact Pedro Rios or Marcela Cañon. Their contact information is on the right.

Mission Statement

The Río Espiritu Santo Watershed Council is committed to the protection, restoration and enhancement of the health of the Río Espiritu Santo Watershed in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.

The Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council will seek to establish a healthy and sustainable watershed that ensures high water quality and remains a natural habitat for wildlife and plants while recognizing the needs of the community it serves.

The objectives of the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council are as follows:

• To educate members of the community on environmental issues and strategies for sustainability
• To facilitate community involvement in the actions of the council
• To seek input from the community on environmental issues of the Rio Espiritu Santo watershed
• To measure and improve the water quality of the Rio Espiritu Santo
• To preserve the habitats of the various plants and animals that reside within the watershed
• To ensure the enforcement of environmental regulations as they apply to both individuals and business interests
• To evaluate and improve the environmental impact of water sequestration infrastructure

Where is the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed?

The Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed is defined by a geographical intersection of the Rio Espiritu Santo with the boundaries of Barrio Jimenez, where the river originates, and the mouth of the river. The Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed contains 67.78 square miles of land. One of the main tributaries of the Rio Espiritu Santo is Rio Grande. Rio Grande and Rio Espiritu Santo unite North of PR-3 and then flow into the Atlantic Ocean. You can see what specific lands comprise the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed in the picture below.

Lands covered by the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed are shown in blue

What is a Watershed Council?

A watershed council is a non-regulatory, volunteer organization committed to the environmental preservation of a geographic area. It is entirely volunteer based, and represents individuals as well as business, academic, and governmental interests. However, the most important stakeholders are the community. The Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council will offer community members a place to voice their opinions on environmental issues. The community will set the agenda for the council and will only work on the issues that the community deems important.

Project Team Introduction

Hi! Welcome to the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council Blog! We are students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, and for the past 4 months, we have been working with the U.S. Forest Service to create a watershed council for the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed. We have spent the last 7 weeks on-site in Puerto Rico gathering data from various stakeholders and community members and developing our report. As part of our report, we have created several documents to assist the Rio Espiritu Santo Watershed Council in its development. You can see these in later posts.

If you would like to gain more information about the council, please contact Pedro Rios at the U.S. Forest Service or Marcela Cañon at the Bahia Beach Resort. Their contact information can be seen on the right.

Welcome!

El Yunque Project Team- From left to right: Sam Naseef, Diego Adrianzen, Alex Verrelli